The Bonn International Center for Conversion
(BICC) is an independent non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and facilitating
the processes whereby people, skills, technology, equipment, and financial and economic
resources can be shifted away from the defense sector and applied to alternative civilian
uses. Through research and analysis, technical assistance and advice, retraining programs,
publications, and conferences, BICC supports
governmental and non-governmental initiatives as well as public and private sector
organizations by finding ways to reduce costs
and enhance effectiveness in the draw-down
of military-related activities. As a result, BICC
contributes to improved post-conflict settlement and structural development. BICC's six program areas are:

Defense expenditures and budget
reallocation

Civilian applications for military R&D

Industrial conversion and restructuring

Demobilization and reintegration

Base closure and redevelopment

Dismantling and disposal of surplus
weapons.

BICC is an international think tank, which
conducts research, makes policy suggestions
and facilitates and mediates the conversion
process at all levels--local, national and global.
The Center provides consulting services to a
range of public and private organizations. In
order to function as an international clearing-
house, BICC actively collects data and information on all conversion issue areas, and
produces a variety of publications analyzing
the international conversion process, such
as its annual conversion survey, its series of reports, briefs, and papers, as well as its
Internet service ConverNet at http://bicc.uni-bonn.de

BICC was established in 1994 with generous
support from the German State Government
of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). The
Center's shareholders include the states of
North Rhine-Westphalia and Brandenburg as
well as the Westdeutsche Landesbank
Girozentrale (WestLB), Düsseldorf/Münster,
and the Landesentwicklungsgesellschaft NRW. BICC cooperates with multilateral institutions
(such as the European Commission, the United Nations, and NATO), German organizations and foundations (such as the Deutsche
Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit,
the German Federal Government, the Fritz-
Thyssen Stiftung, the Volkswagen-Stiftung)
and international organizations and key
foundations (including the Arias Foundation,
the Center for Conflict Resolution Cape
Town, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Ford Foundation, the Joyce Mertz-Gilmore
Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Monterey Institute of International Studies,
the Overseas Development Council, Rutgers
University, and the Stockholm International
Peace Research Institute).

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